Jun 28 Embroidered Wedding Gift.

I have been waiting a long time to share this beautiful work with you all, its been a real pleasure to create. A dear friend of mine Nicki asked me to create this embroidery for her lovely daughter and new husband. She wanted to give this picture as a wedding gift and I was so honoured to be able to create this for them.

We chatted over coffee all about the happy couple, what they loved, colours and general feel of the work. They both love nature, simple pleasures of our English countryside. Once I had chatted it all through with Nicki, my head was full of ideas, I was inspired by 'The Diary Of An Edwardian Lady' The beauty of wild flowers even foliage looked upon as weed seemed lovely to me, anything that could grow and survive the wild was a possible feature for this picture.

I liked the idea of incorporating endangered insects like the blue butterfly and our much loved bee, There is something about the blue butterfly that speaks of a rare sight, which for me reflected a rare beautiful love. The bumble bee pollinating as it goes vital for our very existence in life. Thinking about this new marriage between this young couple, having the very same effect as they go on throughout their married life together, who they will have a profound effect on, who will be pollinated by their joining together. Whose lives will they touch and have an impact on both young an old.

At the centre of the picture I wanted a poppy because that to me speaks of peace, often you will find a single poppy in the roughest of grounds, but somehow despite the terrain it has made its way out of the ground standing tall its beauty to be seen by all. There is no doubt that marriage has its ups and downs, but if peace is at the centre and we trust God with it all we will stand the test of time. Through many tears and many Joys married life is a journey and adventure.

As I stitched each part and thought about this couple who had been described to me, I kept having lovely images to create the detail of this embroidery. I know God really speaks to me through my work and felt a strong sense of his inspiration and finding my gifting being used in a wonderful way.

I wanted to use Forget-me-nots as I love the idea of these flowers, which re seed every year and can be found all over the countryside and gardens. Certainly in Marriage we should never forget each other, so this little flower is a reminder to not forget each others needs, and to always show kindness towards each other. In doing so we will re-seed our marriage with more blooms and greater love.

I love that the butterfly and bee leave a swirling pattern behind them, a trail of where they have been and where they will go to next. See the little cow parsley made from tiny beads and the finest of stitches. I love creating things with tiny details like this and I am always reminded that God is in the detail of everything in our life.

Amongst these flowers there are grains, tall grasses representing a bountiful harvest.

On the yellow Cowslip is a tiny Ladybird who takes care of all the little nasty bugs. Cowslips were traditionally strewn across the church pathways at weddings

I've not talked a lot about how I made this picture but more about my thoughts behind it all, as you can see here I had one final thing to do and that was to add Elly and Paul's names across the top. Using the drawn outline underneath I secured with pins then began to stitch in place.

I wanted to include bluebells as they are just so pretty and you can find whole woodlands full of them at this time of year. And of course the pretty daisy found in various shapes and sizes, there just to add dimension to the picture, but I have since learnt that Daisy's have medicinal purposes and also symbolise new beginnings. So I love that they made it into this picture, in sickness and in health.

I know the happy couple had a wonderful wedding, I hope this picture will be a lasting reminder to them of all that is good about marriage and the bond between them.

Getting to work on this design has been a real privilege, and I feel like it will be a catalyst to future work. So watch this space, I have so many ideas, and I am going to be working on a small collection of framed embroidered pieces which I will share with you as soon as I am ready.

I am really proud of this piece, I have loved every minute of working on it, stitching away whilst listening to woman's hour podcasts or gentle music and worship, I really have been in my happy place.

I guess all I can say now is all the best to the happy couple and praying you have many wonderful years together.

If you feel inspired by this work or want to make enquiries about me creating something for you or as a gift do get in touch with me. I'd be more than happy to chat with you. I would love to receive your comments below and tell me what you think about this work.